Ottawa, October 30, 2017 – Plans to cut nursing positions at Winnipeg’s Deer Lodge Centre can only have a negative impact on patients’ well-being, according to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

Nursing professionals at the Centre have been informed by the Employer that the equivalent of 15 full-time positions will be eliminated as part of a major reorganization at the facility to be implemented early next month.

“Deer Lodge needs more, not fewer full-time nurses to take care of its patients”, said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “The erosion of the Registered Nurse to patient ratio is going to put patients at risk. This is an example of financial considerations coming before the needs of people and it’s just not right. Facility administrators need to scrap this initiative and make the well-being of patients their top priority,” added Daviau.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 professionals across Canada’s federal and provincial public sectors, including some 150 nursing professionals at Deer Lodge Centre.